Analytics firm, BIA/Kelly has predicted that mobile search queries will overtake desktop queries by 2015. Mobile search is an unavoidable part of digital marketing. If brands don’t adapt to consumer behavior, they risk becoming side lined if their competitors are faster to react. And, contrary to long held assumptions, people search for more than just pizza and movie theatre show times on their mobile device.

In Other Online Marketing News…

Instagram now lets users (and marketers) post canned video – Up to now, Instagram and Vine users could only upload videos captured in the moment. With this new feature, users can import any 15 seconds of video from their media library. This could be a big bonus for marketers – ReadWrite

On the digital horizon: tech thought leaders look to the next big thing – PRSA asked eight PR professionals what they think about the current social media landscape and what excites them most about the digital future. Here what they had to say – PRSA

Facebook testing VIP app with some celebs – The project, which is in its early days, is another part of Facebook’s push to encourage celebrities to share more stuff on the site. And that’s part of Facebook’s larger push to compete more directly with Twitter for “public” sharing – AllThingsD

128 million+ in the U.S. visit Facebook daily – Releasing regional data for the first time as a way of helping advertisers understand how people use the social network, Facebook’s gearing up for a larger push to go after dollars earmarked for TV commercials – Reuters

Study: fake web traffic is costing advertisers $180 million per year – The study comes as more publishers and advertisers are becoming aware of fake web traffic and taking steps to combat ‘bots’ that are growing increasingly more sophisticated – AdAge

Twitter prepares to fly IPO – currently valued at about $10 billion on $300 million in revenue – Twitter, whose management has denied IPO plans, unintentionally signaled recently that an IPO is in the works when it posted, then yanked, a job offering on LinkedIn for a financial reporting manager “for when we go public” – USA Today

Using the #hashtag to create cohesive brand communications – Using hashtags can be a minefield for brands when done incorrectly says Rohit Bhargava. He offers three potential strategies for how to effectively use hashtags as a part of an integrated digital marketing strategy – PopDitto

From the Online Marketing Blog Community:

Our post on Google supposedly killing PR agencies received quite a bit of traffic and dialogue. Here’s a snapshot of the conversation:

On “Google Did Not Just Kill PR Agencies”, Tara Geissinger said: I love the idea that self-publishing press releases is akin to paid advertising — and that there is nothing wrong with that! I agree! Google removed a small bit of SEO value because people were abusing it. That doesn’t mean that press releases don’t serve a purpose, however. They are still great for building brand awareness, credibility and getting third parties talking about your company (when done correctly.) They are not (and have never been) a silver bullet solution. They are best used as part of an overall marketing campaign.

John Ellis said: Lee…I think PR agencies have to accept that they are not, and never have been “linkbuilding” services. Yet… many sell their releases as such.

I agree with you that the majority of the releases are for small biz. It was one of the ways we used to help grow a presence 3-5 years ago. Not really needed today.

We still send out a PR Web release for a client every so often. We always include 1-3 links for ~ 500+ words. That’s always been my guideline for linking, That and is the link is warranted (useful, helpful, and not just for SEO).

We’ve used that guideline since we started doing on-page SEO. To date, it has never done us wrong. Through all the major algo’s… 500 words, 1-3 useful keyword or related links. We won’t change that unless we see evidence of it negatively affecting rank.

Thanks for presenting the non-sensational version of the story.

On “Business Blogging Ideas – What to Blog About When You Don’t Know What to Blog About”, Cat Fyson said: Some great ideas here – I find Feedly a good source for pulling together different blog posts and seeing if there’s a fresh spin on them. I can understand the struggle for anyone who is not otherwise a writer when it comes to populating their business blog – but with some of the ideas you’ve listed, and putting a little time aside to invest in something that will ultimately reap great rewards, there’s no reason not to get writing.

What’s Your Take?

If brands don’t adapt to consumer mobile activity, are they doomed to the bottom of the heap? Can Facebook attract celebs and TV ad budgets? Will fake web traffic take over the Internet?

About OLM Blog

Whether you’re a small business owner or a member of a large corporation, up-to-date with the latest trends in business and marketing strategies or not, you’ve come to the right place. One of the most important elements of any business, small or large, is a Website. And, that’s where The Online Marketing Blog can help – providing solutions for marketers.